Fortunately, U.S. scientists recall the libricide committed by the Harper government against Canada’s fisheries science data in 2013. They’ve organized a “guerrilla archiving” effort to copy vital climate and other environmental data to servers outside of U.S. territory, before the wrecking crew arrives to demolish America’s scientific capabilities.

Living Planet Index, projected to 2020

The Living Planet Index (solid black line) with model fit and extrapolation to 2020 (white line, shaded area) under a business-as-usual scenario, shaded band shows limits 95 per cent confidence of the model fit. Using the method from Tittensor, et al., 2014. Graphic: WWF International

Number of poached rhinos in South Africa, 2007-2015

South Africa announced the official number of rhinos illegally killed in the country during 2015. The figure of 1,175 represented a slight drop on the 1,215 record total in 2014, but overall rhino poaching figures for Africa totaled a record high for the continent.

Population of migratory monarch butterflies, 1993-2014

Model estimated annual over wintering population size for the Eastern, migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), 1993-2014. The red line is the median of posterior estimates, and the gray shaded area shows 95 percent credible intervals. The x symbols define overwintering habitat area data from Mexico, and the e symbols represent observations of annual egg production in the Midwest scaled to match the magnitude of the overwintering data. The inset depicts the data and model results on a log-scale. Graphic: Semmens, et al., 2016 / Nature Scientific Reports

Catches of New Zealand southern right whales, 1829-2020

Population trajectories and catches of New Zealand southern right whales from 1829 to 2020. Panels show the population trajectories when (a) 'high case' catches from the southwest Pacific are allocated, and (b) New Zealand catches only, using the low-case catch allocation. Median estimates are solid lines while dashed lines denote 95 percent probability intervals. Blue lines show the population trajectory when female recaptures are fitted. Pink lines show the trajectory fitted to relative abundance indices described in Carroll, et al., 2013. Graphic: Jackson, et al., 2016 / Royal Society Open Science

Fisheries data assembled by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) suggest that global marine fisheries catches increased to 86 million tonnes in 1996, then slightly declined. Here, using a decade-long multinational “catch reconstruction” project covering the Exclusive Economic Zones of the world’s maritime countries and the High Seas from 1950 to 2010, and accounting for all fisheries, we identify catch trajectories differing considerably from the national data submitted to the FAO. We suggest that catch actually peaked at 130 million tonnes, and has been declining much more strongly since.

Rapid decline of last native bird species in Kauai, Hawai’i, 2000-2012

Population estimates (left panels) are from surveys conducted in 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2012 across both the interior and exterior portions of the Alaka‘i Plateau (with error bars representing the 95% CI of each estimate). Linear and exponential population change models fitted to the 2000–2012 data are projected from 2013 to 2050 or estimated year of extinction (when abundance is less than 30 individuals, which is a quasi-extinction level). Graphic: Paxton, et al., 2016 / Science Advances

The few remaining species of native forest birds left on the Hawaiian island of Kauai have suffered population declines so severe – 98 percent in one case – that some are near extinction. The cause of the collapse, according to a recent study in the journal Science Advances, is not alien plants or predators, but rather warming temperatures that have enabled non-native mosquitoes carrying deadly avian malaria to invade the birds' high-elevation strongholds.

China timber product imports by source country and value, 2000-2014

EU member states are failing to enforce laws designed to protect the world’s forests from illegal logging. Illegal wood products are imported to the EU primarily from China, in the form of furniture, plywood and flooring, and as timber logged in Russia and in the world’s tropical rainforests - a trade that drives deforestation and corruption. Interpol claims that tackling illegal logging would be the “fastest, most effective” way to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Graphic: James Hewitt

Deforestation in protected areas in the Amazon, 2008-2015

Between 2008 and 2015, 467,000 hectares [1,153,982 acres] were deforested in protected areas of the region, destroying about 233 million trees and causing the death or displacement of about 8.3 million birds and 271,000 monkeys. We estimate that the burning of vegetation in deforested area in the Amazon protected areas has resulted in the issuance of 29 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year between 2008 and 2015, comparable to the emission of this gas by 10 million cars per year (i.e., the equivalent to the emissions of 20% of the car fleet in Brazil).

Population of Africa elephants, from the early 20th century to 2016

Before the Great Elephant Census (GEC), total elephant numbers were largely guesswork. But over the past two years, 90 scientists and 286 crew have taken to the air above 18 African countries, flying the equivalent of the distance to the moon -- and a quarter of the way back -- in almost 10,000 hours. Prior to European colonization, scientists believe that Africa may have held as many as 20 million elephants; by 1979 only 1.3 million remained -- and the census reveals that things have gotten far worse. Graphic: CNN

World map of threat to agriculture from invasive species

(A) The overall invasion threat (OTt) to each threatened country, t; (B) the total invasion cost (TICt) (in millions of US dollars) to threatened countries; (C) the total invasion cost (TICt) (in millions of US dollars) to threatened countries, as a proportion of GDP; and (D) the total invasion cost (TICs) (in millions of US dollars) from source countries, s. Graphic: Paini, et al., 2016 / PNAS

World energy mix, projected to 2040

World energy mix, projected to 2040. Renewables grow fastest; coal use plateaus by about 2020; natural gas surpasses coal by 2030. Based on its latest projections, EIA said global carbon dioxide emissions from energy activities will rise from 36 billion metric tons in 2012, the baseline year used for the 2016 outlook, to 43 billion metric tons in 2040. Graphic: EIA

World oil production and consumption by region for 2015

World oil production growth in 2015 significantly exceeded the growth in oil consumption for a second consecutive year. Production grew by 2.8 million b/d, led by increases in the Middle East (+1.5 million b/d) and North America (+0.9 million b/d). Global oil consumption increased by 1.9 million b/d, nearly double the 10-year average, with above-average growth driven by OECD countries. The Asia Pacific region accounted for 74 percent of global growth, with China once again contributing the largest national increment to global oil consumption growth (+770,000 b/d). Graphic: BP

Global economic growth and energy consumption growth, 1991-2015

This graph compares the historical world economic growth rates and the primary energy consumption growth rates from 1991 to 2015. The primary energy consumption growth rate has an intercept of -0.011 at zero economic growth rate and a slope of 0.904. That is, primary energy consumption has an 'autonomous' tendency to fall by 1.1 percent a year when economic growth rate is zero. When economic growth rate rises above zero, an increase in economic growth rate by one percentage point is associated with an increase in primary energy consumption by 0.9 percent. R-square for the linear trend is 0.751. Source: Gross world product in constant 2011 international dollars is from World Bank (2016); world primary energy consumption is from BP (2016). Graphic: Political Economist / Ron Patterson / Peak Oil Barrel

Annual greenhouse gas index, 1700-2015

The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is not just rising, it's accelerating, and another potent greenhouse gas, methane showed a big spike last year, according to the latest annual greenhouse gas index released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The NOAA annual greenhouse gas index (AGGI) is a measure of the warming influence of long-lived trace gases and how that influence is changing each year. The index was designed to enhance the connection between scientists and society by providing a normalized standard that can be easily understood and followed. The warming influence of long-lived greenhouse gases is well understood by scientists and has been reported by NOAA through a range of national and international assessments.

Canada carbon emissions projected to 2020 and 2030

Canadian government numbers show that years of environmental efforts in Canada essentially had no impact on reducing carbon emissions. The projection, released by Environment and Climate Change Canada, shows that Canada is expected to pump out the equivalent of 768 megatons of CO2 by 2020, and 815 megatons by 2030. Those projections also do not include emissions from the forestry sector.

Global surface temperatures, 1880 to February 2016

Monthly global surface temperatures (land and ocean) from NASA for the period 1880 to February 2016, expressed in departures from the 1951-1980 average. The red line shows the 12-month running average. February 2016 soared past all rivals as the warmest seasonally adjusted month in more than a century of global recordkeeping. Graphic: Stephan Okhuijsen / datagraver.com

Acceleration in rate of sea level rise due to global warming, projected to 2020

The graph shows how sea level rises and falls as ocean heat content fluctuates. After volcanic eruptions, the Earth cools and, in turn, the heat content in the ocean drops, ultimately lowering sea level. The solid blue line is the average sea level rise of climate model simulations that include volcanic eruptions. The green line is the average from model simulations with the effect of volcanic eruptions removed, and it shows a smooth acceleration in the rate of sea level rise due to climate change. Graphic: UCAR

Projected relative sea-level changes at 10,000 years for four emission scenarios

Maps showing projected patterns of relative sea-level change at 10,000 years for four emission scenarios from version 2.8 of the UVic model: (a) 1280 PgC, (b) 2560 PgC, (c) 3840 PgC and (d) 5120 PgC. Each map includes the contributions from future ice melting and the on-going isostatic response of the Earth to the most recent deglaciation. For each scenario, the global mean sea-level (GMSL) values are approximately: (a) 21 m, (b) 33 m, (c) 39 m, and (d) 44 m (these values include a contribution from isostatic processes. The global mean contributions from ocean warming and glacier melting are not included (they are less than 5 percent of the GMSL values given above for all emission scenarios). Graphic: Clark, et al., 2016 / Nature Climate Change

Drought Severity Index in the Mediterranean, 1980–2012

(top) Multiyear average Palmer Drought Severity Index (scPDSI) for 1980–2012 with regions of recent and persistent drought outlined in dashed black lines: WestMED (32°N–42°N, 10°W–0°), Greece (36°N–43°N, 19°E–26°), and the Levant (30°N–37°N, 33°E–40°E). (bottom) Also shown are the regional average scPDSI time series from these regions for 1950–2012 (red line is a 10 year loess smoother). Graphic: Cook, et al., 2016 / Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

Projected food security and nutrition situation in the Sahel for June–August 2017

INFORM risk index for African nations in the Sahel region, September 2016. INFORM is a composite index for risk management that identifies countries at a high risk of humanitarian crisis which are more likely to require international assistance. The index envisages three dimensions of risk: hazards & exposure, vulnerability and lack of coping capacity dimensions. Graphic: UN

Water-related conflicts, 1980-2014

This chart shows the number of water-related conflicts reported for each year from 1980 to 2015. The data were compiled by the Pacific Institute and published in the organization's chronology of the world’s water conflicts. Graphic: Robert Hopwood / The Desert Sun

Global biocapacity per capita, 1961-2012

Over the period from 1961 to 2012, humanity’s ecological footprint has nearly tripled. During this time, Earth’s biocapacity declined at a steady rate of about 55 million global hectares per year. Biocapacity per capita is declining at an exponential rate. Extrapolating the curve fit shows that it will fall to half of its 1961 value by around the year 2020. By the year 2100, biocapacity per capita will fall to about one-sixth of its 1961 value, which means that each human will be supported by about 17 percent of the ecosystem services that each human was supported by in 1961.

Acidification of the Arctic Ocean by permafrost melt, projected to 2050 and 2100

Predicted levels of aragonite saturation (ΩAr) in different areas of the Arctic Ocean. a) In 2050; b) in 2100 (S3). The area of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) is marked by a black rectangle. Graphic: Semiletov, et al., 2016 / Nature Geoscience

Estimated deoxgenation of oceans due to global warming, projected to 2100

Deoxgenation due to climate change is already detectable in some parts of the ocean. New research from NCAR finds that it will likely become widespread between 2030 and 2040. Other parts of the ocean, shown in gray, will not have detectable loss of oxygen due to climate change even by 2100. Graphic: Matthew Long / NCAR

Projected change in global water supply from 2010 to 2040, under business-as-usual climate scenario

A changing climate means less rain and lower water supplies in regions where many people live and much of the planet’s food is produced: the mid-latitudes of the Northern and Southern hemispheres, including the U.S. Southwest, southern Europe and parts of the Middle East, southern Africa, Australia and Chile. As WRI-Aqueduct’s future scenarios for water supply show, diminished water supplies will be apparent in these areas by 2020 – less than four years away -- and are expected to grow worse by 2030 and 2040.

Now a new study in the journal Nature provides some of the first evidence that this widely-predicted phenomenon – the movement of clouds and rainfall from the mid-latitudes towards the North and South poles -- is already taking place. Just like the retreat of glaciers and polar sea ice, now clouds and rain are retreating poleward.

Estimated Greenland ice sheet retreat during the Pleistocene epoch

Scientists drilled nearly two miles down through the summit of the Greenland ice sheet (white dot, left), to reach bedrock. Isotopes found in the rock indicate that this site and most of Greenland were nearly ice free (right) during the recent geologic past. Graphic: Schaefer, et al., 2016 / Nature

Mortality map of Great Barrier Reef bleaching in 2016

A mass bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016 killed more corals than ever before. This map, detailing coral loss on the GBR, shows how mortality varied from north to south. Graphic: ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies

Frequency of local species extinctions related to global warming across different climatic regions, habitats, and gradients

(A) Species are categorized as temperate or tropical (based on the location of the study), and the percentage of species with one or more local extinctions is shown, along with the sample sizes of species in each region. (B) Species are categorized as terrestrial, freshwater, or marine, and the frequency of species with local extinctions is shown (along with total species per habitat). (C) Species are categorized based on whether they were surveyed along elevational or latitudinal transects. Vertical lines indicate 95% confidence intervals on the estimated frequency of species with local extinctions. Graphic: John J. Wiens, 2016 / PLOS

Temperature-preserving migration applied to the global distribution of humans, under 2°C global warming

Temperature-preserving displacements are applied to the global distribution of people as an illustrative thought experiment, since this is one species distribution that is familiar and well documented. Actual human migrations will certainly differ and likely will be less extreme, as people can adapt and access technologies that may allow them to avoid displacement, behaviors that are abstracted away in this analysis. (A) Logarithm of the current distribution of humans. (B) The distribution of this population if all individuals undertake the displacement in Fig. 3. (C) Histogram with 1 km bins (grey, smoothed is black) for the minimum distance traveled by each person currently on Earth. Graphic: Hsiang and Sobel, 2016 / Scientific Reports

Refugee crossings and deaths in the Mediterranean in October 2016, compared with 2015

With two months still to go in 2016, deaths of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean hit a record high. Expressing alarm at the situation, UNHCR reported that 3,740 lives had been lost so far in 2016, just short of the 3,771 reported for the whole of 2015. Graphic: UNHCR

Global displacement and proportion displaced, 1996-2015

The global population of forcibly displaced people today is larger than the entire population of the United Kingdom. If they were a country, the forcibly displaced would be the 21st largest in the world. Graphic: UNHCR

Annual average global economic growth, 2006–2016

Wage growth around the world has decelerated since 2012, falling from 2.5 per cent to 1.7 per cent in 2015, its lowest level in four years. If China, where wage growth was faster than elsewhere, is not included, growth in global wages dropped from 1.6 per cent to 0.9 per cent. Graphic: ILO

Global gross debt, 2002-2015

Global debt, both public and private, reached 225 percent of global economic output in 2015, up from about 200 percent in 2002, the IMF said in its new Fiscal Monitor report. The IMF said about two thirds of the 2015 total, or about $100 billion, is owed by private sector borrowers, and noted that rapid increases in private debt often lead to financial crises. Graphic: IMF

Global obesity trends by region, 1975-2014

Trends in the number of obese and severely obese people by region, 1975-2014. A person is obese if they have a body-mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or higher, or is severely obese if they have a BMI of 35 kg/m2 or higher. Graphic: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, 2016 / The Lancet